tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34718930051748616252018-01-27T07:11:37.449+01:00For gender equity at scholarly conferencesDan Sperberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03851807004807126789noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3471893005174861625.post-11448437289504373542013-03-14T11:33:00.003+01:002013-03-14T11:33:43.332+01:00Virginia Valian's comment in Nature<br /><div role="article" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><div class="userContentWrapper aboveUnitContent" style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;"><div class="_wk mbm" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="userContent">Virginia Valian has a comment entiltled "Invite Women to Talk" in the last issue of <i>Nature </i><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7439/full/495035a.html">here</a>.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;For those without access to the journal, the text of the comment is available after the break</div><div class="_wk mbm" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="userContent"><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">VIRGINIA VALIAN</div><div style="text-align: center;">(Psychologist at Hunter College and the Graduate Cent<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">er, City University of New York)</span></div><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><div style="text-align: center;">INVITE WOMEN TO TALK</div>In 2003, I was invited to give the keynote speech at an event held annually by the Sigma Xi scientific-research society to honour scientists’ achievements. I was asked to speak about women in science. During dinner, I scanned a list of the event’s previous speakers, from 1964 on, to count how many women had given the keynote. Most were listed only by surname and first initial, so between courses, I walked around the room asking people whether they knew anyone on the list. Eventually, I found an older scientist who reviewed the list, recognizing every name, then turned to me with a surprised, rueful smile: in nearly 40 years, I was the only woman to speak at this event. He had heard nearly every lecture but had never noticed that they were all given by men. At the beginning of my talk, I used that story as an example of how hard it would be for organizers and attendees to detect such a pattern, given only one data point a year. The pattern isn’t a product of discrimination or intentional exclusion of women. Rather, few people — men or women — think of women when they picture ‘top’ scientists who might headline an event.<br />Are men still disproportionately featured at conferences? Determining an expected number is hard, but it is still relatively rare to find women giving plenary or keynote speeches at conferences. At the American Chemical Society’s upcoming spring meeting, for example, all four of the planned plenary speakers are male. That doesn’t send an optimistic message to young female chemists. The blog Feminist Philosophers lists nearly 20 recent philosophy conferences — many of which focus on science — featuring only male speakers.<br />At a language-processing conference I attended recently, I went to 15 or so talks, making note of who asked questions in each one. Women were more likely to ask questions in sessions chaired by women, regardless of the speaker’s gender. If that is a general pattern, bringing more women into prominent positions in conferences will increase women’s overall participation in scientific discourse. Many organizations strive to include scientists who are from non- English-speaking countries — the same can be done for women.<br />To that end, my colleague Dan Sperber, a cognitive scientist at the Central Euro- pean University (CEU) in Budapest, and I have created an online petition (go.nature.com/sj4yed) whose signatories commit to accepting talk invitations only from conferences that have made good-faith efforts to include women. So far, we have more than 450 signatures — but few of them are from senior male scientists, and even fewer are from scientists in the United States. What counts as a good-faith effort? There is no single prescription, but Sperber and I have adopted a few suggestions from Feminist Philosophers. For one, organizers should seek out women in relevant fields to speak at conferences — and keep looking if the first woman they ask says no. Other examples include extending invitations early so that women have time to make arrangements, and offering child-care services at meeting sites.<br />But efforts should go beyond the individual. Conference funders should be mindful of gender equity for invited speakers. Similarly, universities should follow the example of the CEU, which now requires that organizers of university-funded events show good-faith efforts to include qualified female speakers (go.nature.com/ym81ws).</span></span></div></div><div class="shareUnit"><a class="_1xw shareLink" href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7439/full/495035a.html" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: #f6f7f9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1px solid rgb(211, 218, 232); color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin-bottom: 12px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><div class="_1xx _1xz" style="padding: 8px 11px; vertical-align: top; zoom: 1;"><div class="_1x-" style="max-height: 98px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="_1x_ fwb" dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold;">http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7439/full/495035a.html</div><div class="fsm fwn fcg" style="color: grey;">www.nature.com</div><div class="_1y1 fsm fwn fcg" dir="ltr" style="color: grey; margin-top: 14px;"></div></div></div></a></div></div><div class="fbTimelineUFI uiCommentContainer" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -12px; margin-top: -12px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; top: 12px; width: 403px;"><form action="http://www.facebook.com/ajax/ufi/modify.php" class="live_347816508668677_316526391751760 commentable_item autoexpand_mode" data-live="{&quot;seq&quot;:&quot;347816508668677_1808705&quot;}" id="u_jsonp_3_3g" method="post" rel="async" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="fbTimelineFeedbackHeader"><div class="fbTimelineFeedbackActions clearfix" style="background-color: #edeff4; padding: 5px 12px; zoom: 1;"><span class="fbTimelineFeedbackShares" style="float: right; margin-left: 5px;"><a ajaxify="/ajax/shares/view?target_fbid=347816508668677" aria-controls="js_7" aria-haspopup="true" aria-label="Show shares" aria-owns="js_7" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-alignh="right" href="http://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id=347816508668677" id="js_8" rel="async" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; padding-left: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><i style="background-image: url(http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/y5/r/EJCdeckuefL.png); background-position: -36px -68px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: block; height: 16px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -1px; width: 14px;"></i></a></span></div></div></form></div>Dan Sperberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03851807004807126789noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3471893005174861625.post-54194269910354365722012-10-04T03:37:00.001+02:002012-10-10T22:34:14.082+02:00Who may sign?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q. &nbsp;<i>I work at an academy of science and friends of mine work in national laboratories, institutes, research centers, and other settings outside of academia. &nbsp;May we sign the petition?</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A. &nbsp;Yes, feel free to interpret "academic" broadly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q. &nbsp;<i>May students sign?</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A. &nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Some students organize conferences or are invited to be speakers. If you are a student in such a situation, feel free to sign. &nbsp;We have two concerns: a) &nbsp;that scholars exercise their commitment and b) that younger scholars not suffer unduly as a consequence of exercising their commitment. &nbsp;Y</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">ounger scholars are more vulnerable than older scholars, and thus might want to postpone making such a public commitment. &nbsp;In our view, the people who have the greatest responsibility are those who are frequently in the position of organizing conferences or receiving invitations to them. &nbsp;Another way you could express your commitment is by discussing this issue with senior scholars.</span>For-gender-equity teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305878201914958193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3471893005174861625.post-70010225180353511092012-09-30T00:01:00.002+02:002012-10-04T03:34:30.333+02:00Q & A<h2><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Here are Questions and Answers regarding the Commitment we are signing prepared by </span><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Virginia Valian, Dan Sperber, and others</b><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></b></span></h2><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></i><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp;<i> I'd like to be clearer about what I'm committing to.&nbsp; For example, I don't think it's reasonable to require a 50-50 balance of men and women for the invited speakers at every conference.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Understandably.&nbsp; The statement commits signers – whether as organizers or as potential invited speakers – to fairness, and fairness depends on, among other things, the availability of men and women in the pool of possible invitees.&nbsp; In some cases, the pool of women (or men) is very small, so one would expect the representation of women (or men) among invited speakers also to be small.&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>I'm a man and I was just invited to give a keynote.&nbsp; There's only one invited speaker and I would be it.&nbsp; I assume I don't have any gender responsibilities if that is the case.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Well, it depends.&nbsp; For example, you could be the 30<sup>th</sup>male keynote speaker in 30 years.&nbsp; You won't know until you ask the organizers about past conferences (if there were any).&nbsp; If there was a long history of male-only speakers, you could suggest that the group that invited you start to invite women.&nbsp; You might be able to suggest women they could invite instead of you.&nbsp; Or you could suggest that the organizers have two invited speakers and suggest a woman for the other spot.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>I've organized conferences in the past and I've tried to invite women but they have said no.&nbsp;</i> <i>Then there are no more women left to ask in this small field with few women.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; That's a tough situation.&nbsp; If you've made a good-faith effort, that's all you can do.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>What counts as making a good-faith effort?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; We have adapted 6 good suggestions from <a href="http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/how-to-avoid-a-gendered-conference/">http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/how-to-avoid-a-gendered-conference/</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In brief:</span></div><ul><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Set yourself the task of thinking of female names</span></li><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Since women are overrepresented at lower prestige institutions, don't stop searching once you have exhausted the people at high-prestige institutions</span></li><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Do a search for women's names in the relevant areas</span></li><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Plan ahead, so that women, who might have more non-work responsibilities, have adequate time to make arrangements</span></li><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Don't automatically structure your conference – or part of it – around an eminent man but consider building it around a woman</span></li><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><!--[endif]-->Provide adequate funding so that women, who may have fewer resources, will be able to afford to come</span></li><li><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><!--[endif]-->Inquire about child care needs (for both men and women).</span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>To the best of my knowledge, I am unbiased.&nbsp; I resent the idea that bias against women is at work in the invitations I make.</i></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; margin: 3pt 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A.&nbsp; The word "bias" here is not meant to imply deliberate bias.&nbsp; Although there may be deliberate cases, those are not the ones we are concerned about.&nbsp; Rather, we are concerned about the subtle, unintentional examples.&nbsp; Men's names come to mind more readily than women's, leading to more invitations to men, leading to greater visibility for men, leading to yet easier availability of men's names.&nbsp; Both men and women, to the same extent, tend to evaluate women more negatively than men in professional contexts.&nbsp; [For the most recent example, see Moss-Racusin, C., Dovidio, J. F., Brescoll, V. L., Graham, M. J., &amp; Handelsman, J.&nbsp; (2012), Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students.&nbsp; <i>PNAS</i>, on line at </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109.full.pdf+html">http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109.full.pdf+html</a>.]&nbsp; It is exactly because such evaluations occur despite a genuine explicit desire for a selection based on merit alone that it is necessary for initiatives like the present one.&nbsp; Without deliberate efforts, our cognitive patterns will lead us astray. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>To invite women, I would have to go slightly off-topic.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; In our experience, not everyone fits neatly into a program, even when they are all men or all women.&nbsp; Themes are sometimes loosely adhered to.&nbsp; Make sure you are not using different criteria for men and women; you don't want to require that women adhere more closely to the theme than men do.&nbsp; <span style="background-color: white;">Also, in the very choice and description of topics, you may have been influenced by the competencies and interests of the people you initially had in mind to invite. If you had thought of more women to invite, you might have ended up formulating a somewhat different but no less interesting and relevant topic. The choice of topics itself may not always be gender-neutral.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>To invite women, I would have to invite younger women.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Highlighting younger women might be a <b>good</b> thing, but try specifically thinking of older women as well.&nbsp; Also consider having only younger speakers, male or female.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>As a conference organizer I'm very concerned about quality of the invited speakers.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Of course.&nbsp; But why bring up quality in the context of gender?&nbsp; We're unaware of systematic comparative data, but our own experience does not suggest that men are worse speakers than women.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>It seems that ensuring better gender balance will make an already difficult task even more difficult for organizers.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Yes.&nbsp; By signing the statement, you agree that the extra effort will be worth it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>What might I say when I am invited to speak at a conference?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; margin: 0.1pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Some variation of this:&nbsp; "I think it's important to have a gender balance at conferences.&nbsp; You probably do, too.&nbsp; Could you tell me what you are doing to ensure that?"&nbsp; Then you decide whether you think the organizers' efforts are adequate. You might also quote or paraphrase the Commitment you have signed, and ask whether and how accepting the invitation would be consistent with this Commitment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>I am a woman and I don't want to be invited to a conference (just) because I'm a woman.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Of course not.&nbsp; Such an invitation is insulting and appears to treat women as fungible.&nbsp; But <b>not</b> being invited (just) because one is a woman is even worse, because it prevents one's work from getting star billing.&nbsp; Focus on doing the best for your work.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Nor does one have to interpret being chosen on the basis of gender as an insult. &nbsp;Men don't.&nbsp; Women chosen on the basis of gender rate their performance more negatively than is objectively appropriate, take less credit for a positive outcome than is objectively warranted, and have less interest in continuing as a leader than do women who were supposedly chosen on the basis of ability.&nbsp; In contrast, men rate their performance equally highly whether they are told their selection is based on merit or gender [Heilman, M. E., Simon, M., &amp; Repper, D. (1987).&nbsp; Intentionally favored, unintentionally harmed?&nbsp; The impact of sex-based preferential selection on self-perceptions and self-evaluations. <i>Journal of Applied Psychology</i>, <i>72</i>, 62-68].&nbsp; Keep in mind that gender schemas cause both men and women to slightly overvalue men's accomplishments and competence and slightly undervalue women's.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">An analogy with geographical distribution may be helpful. &nbsp;Organizers of international conferences often make an attempt to have geographical diversity, even if it takes more time and effort. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>It may sound strange, but I'm worried that this effort could boomerang and result in even more unbalanced conferences.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Actually, there is some support in the literature for that worry.</span> [Merritt, A. C., Effron, D. A., &amp; Monin, B.&nbsp; (2010). Moral self-licensing: When being good frees us to be bad.&nbsp; <i>Social and Personality Psychology Compass</i>, <i>4/5</i>, 344–357].&nbsp; &nbsp;A quote from Merritt et al:&nbsp; "the opportunity to disagree with blatantly sexist statements or to pick a woman for a consulting job made participants more likely to [later] describe a stereotypically masculine job as better suited for men than for women. It thus appears that the opportunity to obtain a moral license freed participants from the anxiety that goes along with making morally ambiguous decisions."&nbsp; By implication, an initial failed attempt to invite women speakers could reassure organizers of their good intentions and result in their putting their major energy into inviting men speakers rather than continuing to work to invite women. Being aware of this risk should help minimize it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp; <i>Won't public accountability make it more likely that people will in fact work to promote gender balance and neutralize moral licensing?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Yes, it should.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Q.&nbsp;<i> I'd like to know more about how gender schemas work.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A.&nbsp; Watch Tutorials 2 and 4 at <a href="http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/gendertutorial">www.hunter.cuny.edu/gendertutorial.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Read <i>Why So Slow?&nbsp; The Advancement of Women</i>, by Virginia Valian, 1998, MIT Press.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/commitment-to-gender-equity-at-scholarly-conferences.html">&nbsp;Back to signing the Commitment</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>For-gender-equity teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305878201914958193noreply@blogger.com0